A controversial blog this but one that I am quite happy to write because it is something that has grown in my line of vision for the last couple of years and is something that needs to be spoken about.
MSc (Master of Science Degrees) are post-graduate degrees to encourage people to learn more about and have an interest in research. These degrees are particularly helpful to Universities as a demonstration of their quality and an income stream from post-graduate students.
I have not come across an MSc which I believe provides anybody with an exceptional grounding in surgical implant dentistry. The reason for this is that there are no courses that I have come across in the UK which give enough exposure to surgery for anyone to become competent. The best I have seen at the moment is between four and eight cases over three years.
I may be corrected by people who will write back to tell me that they have become exceptionally skilled through an MSc but I believe the only people that are surgically competent following an MSc are people who were surgically competent before they went into them.
I do find that people who have done MScs sometimes have a great handle on research and can quote papers and evidence based techniques until the cows come home but I am just not convinced that they are generally fantastically good at exercising those techniques.
I think there is an excellent place for MScs in dentistry and I may well consider doing one myself in time when my kids get bigger. However, I would understand wholeheartedly that I would be doing that to improve my understanding and analysis of research and data and not as a way to improve my surgical techniques. The only way to improve surgery is to do it and the only way to do that is to attend practical courses that provide the opportunity to do surgery with surgeons.
The real danger in this is that people are exiting MScs having done (including within their own practice) a handful of implant cases and there is no way that competency in straightforward implant dentistry can be achieved below at least fifty cases. There are very few people exiting MScs with fifty cases under their belts.
Far more important than this is the understanding that competency in implant dentistry is probably a five-year process which involves investment of £100 – 150,000 per individual, both in terms of lost practice time, mentoring fees, course fees and patient discounts on treatment. If you are unhappy to invest this type of sum in yourself to become good at implant dentistry then it’s probably prudent to stop before you start and to invest in something else.
To be a good generalist might be a better option but there will still be an investment in that.
If you are two-years qualified having performed very little surgery in practice and very little implant surgery then I would doubt very much that an MSc would be the ideal course for you to attend.
Happy to discuss with anyone who feels it is appropriate.